hobbes79

I think it's pretty common in secondary schools in the UK (from 12-18) to have a specialist teach each subject. I wouldn't expect it prior to that however.

My school wasn't too good - has made the papers a couple of times:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,5...104770,00.html

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/t...name_page.html

I was at the school in 1994 and Carr was in my English and Art class. On second thoughts, maybe home schooling isn't such a bad idea!!!

kins

Ugh, no way, school days were the worst days of my life. If I could go back and erase them I would. I ended up having counselling in my twenties to get over some of the stuff I went through. I will never let my kids go through that. If that means home educating them then I will.

kins

LOL... my school also made The Times a while ago. The head wrote to all the parents of potential students and suggested they didn't send their kids there.

And as for the specialist teaching each subject in secondary schools... it's a great idea but it just doesn't happen as often as it should. My husband was a drama teacher but taught English. My stepmother was a geography teacher but taught history. My maths teacher was a statistician who had no understanding of mechanics. Schools can be pretty crappy places to learn subjects.

neil

I assume you'd let them try it and decide for themselves though, their experience may not be yours.

neil

Teaching isn't just knowing the subject though. I was initially worried about teaching A level Statistics and Mechanics as I consider myself a Pure Mathematician; however, when it came down to it I realised that the stuff they do at that level really was quite easy to pick up again.

Pennywell

I truly admire parents who take on this task and do it properly ie, follow each subject curriculum and ensure that the child is experiencing the socialisation that school brings. Personally I wouldn't have the patience, self discipline or selflessness to make it successful for them.
Home-schooling gets bad press due to some parents wanting to be in complete control of their child's life ( note I said some). However it could be beneficial for some children, school refusers, kids that are getting bullied etc. What concerns me is the parents who don't integrate their child into the wider world and are narrow on their own outlook on life.

paddingtongreen

I understand the desire to have a specialist in each subject, I can see that that is the objective, but if you are lacking in a particular discipline, you still have to teach it. You can't just abandon the subject.

In any case, I was taught by one or two people who were tops in their subject but were useless at teaching, and by others who were excellent teachers even when they didn't have the greatest understanding of the subject.

I used the term "teachers", but I prefer, "educators". In "teaching" there is an implied picture of someone feeding knowledge into the pupils through an IV tube. I prefer the analogy with a chef. The chef takes the raw materials separates them into digestible amounts, and presents the food in an appetizing manner for the diner to feed themselves. I think that a good educator reduces the knowledge to digestible quantity, and presents it attractively, perhaps spices it up a bit, so that the student learns for her/himself.

chicagojlo

I also hated school, those were truly some of the worst days of my life. But I wouldn't deny my daughter the chance to attend some of the best schools in the country simply because I hated mine.
I was bullied for being a snob at my first school because we had southern accents in a northern school, then I was bullied in my first year of high school for being a 'swot', then I was bullied for having a mentally disabled brother in the year below me, then I was bullied for having a freak brother three years below me. I was bullied because my mother had her 6th child when I was 12 and the local gossip of the town was that it was the milkman's (and we actually had a milkwoman which made it funny in some ways!). But the education I received was still far superior to anything my mother was capable of. Especially Home Ec when all she could do was burn toast! But the other lessons I learned about dealing with people who are going to try to bring you down to their level in life have stayed with me forever.

kins

Of course I'm going to give them the choice. But I'm not going to force them to stay at a school where they are miserable and begging to leave.

kins

Sadly my teacher did not find this to be the case - she tried to teach us something without understanding it herself, and failed.

My point is there are bad teachers in schools as well as bad teachers at home. We seem to keep comparing good schools with bad homeschooling. We should be comparing like with like.

Roland Hulme

I got bullied and picked on day in and day out. You know what? It made me tougher, more confident and better able to deal with the real world.

I'm not sure what your experiences were - could be they were a lot worse than mine. However, I still think school is a great place to learn about the ups and downs of life. Mummy and Daddy can't teach you that in your own home.

ugacrew

They can't teach you conditional love when they are so busy providing unconditional love in the home. I was also bullied. I almost got into a fight with the tough girl at school just because she didn't like me. I got teased because I wasn't as fashionable as the other girls. I was teased because of my east coast accent when I moved to Tulsa. It was rough but I learned the game really well. School I've come to find out is the perfect microcosm of the real world. It taught me well.

kins

No I wasn't bullied or picked on, unlike most of the kids at my school.

I don't really know where to start with describing my school. It was eventually closed down because parents voted with their feet and stopped sending their kids there.

Among other things the school did no sports, offered nothing outside of basic school hours (no supervision before school, after school or at lunchtime), no non-academic activities, nothing other than the bare minimum.

It was where all the kids who'd been thrown out of other schools ended up.

It was bottom in the league tables in its county which gives you some idea how well it did with actual teaching.

The teachers were so busy managing all the kids with problems that they completely ignored kids who wanted to learn.

I stopped going into school for large parts of the year and no one noticed.

I taught myself most of my A level curriculum in two of my four subjects. When I got my results (AAAB) my teachers were astonished. They'd never had anyone pass an A level before, nor ever sent anyone to university, despite having 150 students per year.

It taught me that a large proportion of kids in school are being failed day in day out. On a personal level it taught me what kind of people I never wanted to have anything to do with ever again.

There is no way I would send my children to a school that cared so little about its students, that didn't bother teaching them anything useful, and that was basically badly organised daycare that didn't even bother checking whether its students had turned up.

chicagojlo

I also went to a crappy school. It taught me to do more to get my daughter into a good school hence we are living here and in one of the best school districts in the country.
My parents put me in a crap school because it was a C of E school, taking 4 buses a day was of no concern to them so long as I was at the only C of E school in a 50 mile radius. I would have made it into one of the grammar schools but they wouldn't let me take the 11 plus despite being top of the school in the last 2 years of primary school. I had issues with blaming my parents for sabotaging my education for a long time but I'm over it.

Sally Redux

I was sent to a C of E school for a year because it was convenient when we moved back from living abroad. I spent the year doing absolutely nothing, the standard was pitifully low.